Living in a Pool of Grace

Sometimes we have to learn to put off our selfishness in order to be more loving people. Rejoicing is an attitude that is not all too common today, which is exactly what would set us apart as Christians.

If Christ becomes our focus, we won't be like the physician in Arkansas.

He misdiagnosed the patient. He declared the woman to be dead. The family was informed, and the husband was grief-stricken.

Imagine the surprise of the nurse when she discovered that the woman was alive?

'You better tell the family,' she urged the doctor.

The embarrassed physician phoned the husband and said,

'I need to talk to you about the condition of your wife."

'The condition of my wife?' he asked. 'She's dead.'

The doctor's pride only allowed him to concede, 'Well, she has seen a slight improvement.'

Slight improvement? Talk about an understatement! Lazarus is walking out of the tomb, and he calls that a 'slight improvement?'

He was so concerned about his image that he missed an opportunity to celebrate.

We laugh, but don't we do the same? We've gone from cremation to celebration. We deserve a lava bath, but we've been given a pool of grace.

~Max Lucado

Below is an article by Henry Morris of ICR.

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. ~Psalm 5:11 (NDSB)

It may seem strange to think of rejoicing as a Christian duty, but the Scriptures do contain many commands to rejoice, and many of these are given in circumstances of grief or danger, as is the case of our beautiful text verse.

“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), Paul wrote from a Roman dungeon. In the upper room the night before He was to die on a cross, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). And then He said: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). But then He said again: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

If David could rejoice while fleeing from murderous enemies, if Paul could rejoice while chained unjustly in a Roman prison, if the disciples could experience fullness of joy while facing martyrdom, and if the Lord Himself “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2), then our Christian duty of rejoicing in all circumstances may not be such an unseemly command after all.

We can rejoice, as our text reminds us, “because thou defendest them.” Furthermore, He Himself provides the joy, for “the fruit of the Spirit is . . . joy” (Galatians 5:22). It is not that the Christian will never know sorrow, for Christ Himself was “a man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). But He also was a man of joy and, in Him, we can be like Him—“as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Impossible Hope

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. ~1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

Not too long ago, I asked my friend a question that had been on my mind. I asked if it is possible for God to have hope if He already knows the future? My friend gave me some good insight on this.

Hope is a tricky thing. In our culture, it means an uncertain desire for something in the future. Biblically however, hope is mentioned (especially in Paul's writings) quite frequently and interchangeably with faith. God is outside of time though, so can He hope like we do? One reason is that although God is both in and out of time (omnipresent), he does not decide the future for us but allows us to decide. Now, He does know what our choice will be, but as long as we are stuck in time, whenever He speaks to us, even through scripture, it is for our benefit. I would say that the same is true for hope. God hopes that all will be saved as it says in 2 Peter 3:9. In fact, it is His will that all should come to Him. That's why we can choose to submit to His will.

God hopes, in part, for our benefit, that we might understand His desire for us. John Piper describes biblical hope (as opposed to the normal worldly definition of hope) as "A confident expectation and desire for something good in the future." You can read the rest of his sermon here. The way my friend put it was that putting our hope in God doesn't mean we "hope God is real," but rather that we have faith that He is who He says He is.

Hope is the way we live our lives in the knowledge of the future we are promised in Christ.

Instead of saying that hope shouldn't be used in Christian terminology because we actually know God is real, we should talk about our hope every chance we get, explaining to people how this kind of hope is so different from the hope the world knows. Let our hope in the things unseen be a testimony to those who have no hope in the future.

“Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled up.” ~ David Orr

Glad for the Scads

It's crazy how easy it is for God to bear our burdens. Now, I don't mean to devalue Christ's sacrifice for us, but just consider this command, "Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you." So many thousands of believers across the map and throughout history have approached Christ with these burdens in order to cast them off and submit their worries to Him. Jesus has taken scads of burdens from all these people and yet He is not buried, He is not weighed down. In fact, not only does Christ carry our burdens without complaint, but He manages to walk alongside us and sustain us. Christ loves us in a way nobody else can, and that is why he is a King so worth having in control of our lives. He's the real deal.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. ~Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)

In Philippians, Paul speaks of a peace the surpasses all understanding. Have you ever experienced this? Have you ever felt a peace inside you during a time in life when you would least expect it to be there? Did it feel surreal? I believe that this kind of peace is one of the main ways God reaches out to those who start to believe in Him, and it is the way He proves Himself to us. You can know all there is to know about God, but if you have never experienced His peace, then you only know of God and you truly know not His presence in your life.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

God Cares When You Don't

God cares more about what we are doing every moment of the day than we do ourselves.

You know how when you watch a movie, the world and life is forgotten for a time? It is so easy these days to set aside a couple of hours to something in expectation of those hours to be ignored by everyone else in the world and wasted when you do nothing productive during that time. Well, God is always watching us, which can sound unnerving, but maybe it's time we consider how we spend our time. Over half of our lives are spent sleeping and/or living life while not caring to live it more productively. We lack motivation and instead want to self indulge. God, however, waits patiently while we sleep, watch a movie, browse YouTube for hours, etc, and He cares about what we spend our time doing. God takes pleasure in His creation living out what He made it to be, and He is worshiped when we go about our day with Him and His Word in mind. He gave us a command to live for Him, so if you believe in Jesus and if you believe Jesus and what He said, you should also be able to hear what He is saying, which isn't much different now than it was 2K years ago. God promises that if we come to Him with our concerns, and it lines up with His will, He will honor it (John 15:7). The question is, do you want to live for Him?

“We have a guarantee: Apathy is a season. God will not let us not care forever.” ~Paul Maxwell

 

Contraversy-cloacked Compromise

Is it true of us that no matter what happens, we know Jesus is worth following and would be willing to deny ourselves anything in order to follow Him? Do we really love Him that much?

"Truth with self-denial is a better pennyworth, than error with all its flesh-pleasing." ~William Gurnall

A friend and I recently had a good conversation with someone who had left the church and his position as a worship leader because he had finally come out about his gay/homosexual tendencies. He came to the decision to toss the faith because he would rather not have to give up "himself." He seemed to think that following Jesus would mean he wouldn't be able to be himself and find his identity in society. Because he thought that way, he concluded that the Bible is a good "life book" to live by, but Jesus must not have actually been God and He was confused about a few things.

Regardless of the arguments we could go into about Jesus being God and how it relates, I believe our gay friend came to his conclusion only because he didn't want to have to deny himself, not because Jesus had changed in any way. This is part of the reason why so many churches are struggling with the "controversial" gay marriage topic: it's not actually any more controversial than any other sin discussed in the Bible, it's just an easier way to compromise our walk with Jesus by conforming to the world and our sinful desires. The focus shouldn't be on why we are born with certain "tendencies," but whether Jesus is worth following regardless of our tendencies.

 

"'God hasn't taken it from me yet.' May it never be heard coming from the mouth of a Christian. These are words of rebellion! We are called to lay down our lives and give all for Messiah. He never said He would wrestle from us, that which we refuse to relinquish."

 ~Dennis E. Green

I have had to question myself recently about whether or not I would be willing to do anything for Jesus. What if tomorrow I had a personality shift and was convinced that I was gay and would not find satisfaction in life without "finding the right person?" Would I still want to deny myself and follow Jesus? No. But would I be able to? My hope and prayer is that I would, and not only for myself, but for all those who are Christians and are caught up in the gay controversy that is so big today.

"The authentic Christian is characterized by devotion to truth and love as revealed by Christ, not mushy sentimentality swayed by today’s worldly trends. While Christ is often merciful even to those who have sinned, He never excuses sin or calls it less than what it is." ~Mission America